


The First Day of the Rest of Your Life

by annieoakley1



Category: Hunger Games (2012), Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-11
Updated: 2013-04-11
Packaged: 2017-12-08 03:33:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/756535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annieoakley1/pseuds/annieoakley1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peeta’s parents have arranged for him to marry into the Cartwright family, but the day does not go as planned.  Short, in Panem AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The First Day of the Rest of Your Life

**Author's Note:**

> Written for PiP's Round 3, Day 6 Challenge. Visual Prompt: The Justice Building

For almost fifteen years, he tried to summon the courage to speak with her.  But every time she was near, whether it was at school or the bakery to trade, he inevitably backed down.  It was better, he reasoned, to hold out hope for the future.  He needed to be able to continue to dream of the day when his grin and greeting were returned.

Now it was too late. 

 

He was suspicious when his mother announced that the Cartwrights would be joining them for dinner.  His mother did not engage in any social activities outside of business at the bakery, and she absolutely detested the Cartwrights and their easy smiles.  To invite them into their home after hours was unthinkable.

That evening, as they sat around the kitchen table to enjoy a roast from the butcher, Delly couldn’t quite meet his eyes.  “Peeta,” Mr. Cartwright began, casting a sidelong glance at his daughter as she nervously twisted a curl. “We’ve been thinking a lot about Delly’s future, and we know your parents are concerned about you as well.”

“It’s been a year since your last reaping,” his mother interrupted.  “It’s time for you to start supporting yourself.”

He frowned as he thought about the long hours he put in at the bakery every day.  It’s as if that didn’t count for anything as far as his mother was concerned.

“The shoe shop is doing well,” Delly’s father continued.  “It’s been getting more difficult to manage it ourselves since Daryl’s death, and Delly won’t be able to run it on her own.  It’s a family business, and it takes a family to operate it.”

Peeta held his tongue; he already knew where this conversation was heading, and the thought made his stomach churn.  He dared to look over at Delly, and there were tears in her eyes as she nibbled on her nail.  He wasn’t sure if it was the arrangement that upset her or the mention of her brother’s name.  She hadn’t been quite the same since his death in the Games two years before.

They didn’t speak more about it that evening, but the decision had clearly been made and the parents seemed placated.  The next day, though, Peeta felt he needed to address the matter with his mother.    “I could continue to work here,” he offered. 

She dismissed him immediately.  “Your brothers can handle it.”  Normally that tone would be enough to dissuade him from further questioning, but this was his entire life at stake.  “I don’t want to marry Delly,” he said softly.

His mother signed impatiently.  “What else do you think you’re going to do?  Bran and Rye will have families of their own soon and it will be hard enough to support them.  They can’t afford to keep you on, too.”  Peeta’s place as youngest in the family had sealed his fate; despite the fact that he loved the bakery and was by far the one most inclined to the trade, there was no place for him here when he had two older brothers.

“You don’t have a choice,” she said coldly.  “There aren’t options here.”  She hung her apron and escaped to the office, and Peeta realized that he really _didn’t_  have a choice.  He never did.  He was a fool to believe he was a free man after his final reaping, because freedom didn’t exist in circumstances like theirs.

“Maybe it won’t be so bad,” Delly said later, attempting a smile.  “At least we’re friends.”  Peeta slumped forward dejectedly, his head resting against his hand.  He didn’t have the heart to look at her.  She knew how he felt about Katniss, and he knew that she dreamed of one day falling in love with a man who was as crazy about her as her parents were about each other.  Now they both had to settle.

The parents had agreed to a small wedding the next month.  First they would go to the Justice Building to sign the papers, and then they would come back to the bakery for the traditional toasting.  The Mellarks had a large wall calendar in the bakery kitchen, and they used it to track deliveries and special orders, and every morning since he was a very little boy, Peeta took great satisfaction in crossing out the previous day.  Now he only did so with a sense of dread.

He couldn’t even find joy in the rare moments Katniss arrived at the bakery to trade with his father.  Every past opportunity he had to talk to her now haunted him.  He kept putting off his chance, and now he had missed it.

The week before the toasting, Katniss showed up at the back entrance with two fat squirrels.  Peeta’s father was out for the day, and both of his brothers were tending to other bakery business.  Before, Peeta would beg one of them to handle the trade, pleading so pathetically that they had no choice but to comply.  Now that had nothing to lose, he approached her himself.

He smiled softly as he said hello, and she seemed surprised that he was acknowledging her.  She returned the greeting but it lacked any warmth.  They exchanged the squirrel meat for a small loaf of nut bread, and as Katniss packed the trade in her hunting bag, she told him that she would be back next Saturday with more.  “We’ll be closed,” he told her.

“Oh.”  She cocked her head to the side.  “Why?”

He looked away, sighing unhappily.  “My parents…I, uh, I’m having a toasting that day.”

“Oh,” she repeated, though it sounded different this time.  But Peeta couldn’t quite place how.

He was surprised to hear the shuffle of her bag before she swung it over her shoulder, and then the scuff of her boots as she walked away.  He looked up in time to see her retreating form as she practically sprinted away from the bakery.  She hadn’t offered congratulations or even consolations in her haste to leave.  It was everything he worried their first true interaction would be.

The Justice Building was only open every other Tuesday and Saturday, so it was always incredibly crowded.  Peeta and Delly, dressed in their reaping clothes, stood with their parents in the line, waiting patiently as the young Seam boy ahead of them applied for tesserae. 

Peeta was finding it difficult to breathe, and his palms were slick with sweat as they all inched closer to the window.  He had tried, very hard, to picture a life where he was married to Delly, running the shoe shop with her.  But he couldn’t envision her as anything more than his friend.  The thought caused him to glance over at his parents as they stood next to him.  Would he and Delly grow to hate each other, too?  Would they resent each other for the rest of their lives?

“I can’t,” he said, just as it was their turn at the window.  Five other pairs of eyes turned to him, an array of emotions in each: her parents were perplexed, his mother livid, and his father…relieved?  But the only person he cared about in that moment was Delly.

“I’m so sorry,” he said to her, the regret written all over his face.  He didn’t want to marry her, but he didn’t want to hurt her, either.

She smiled somberly, her voice low.  “It’s all right, Peeta.  I understand.”

“Peeta, what are you doing?” his mother asked in exasperation.  “We’ve already discussed this.”

“I’ll figure something out.”

“There’s nothing to figure out,” she insisted.  They argued back and forth, ignoring the curious stares from both the Cartwrights and everyone else in the building.  After she told him that he wasn’t welcome back at the bakery, she and his father left, neither one sparing him another look. 

Delly tugged at his sleeve, then motioned to her parents who were standing there awkwardly.  “We’ll see you around, Peeta,” she said. “It’ll be okay.”

Later, as he sat on one of the stone benches outside and tried to piece together his life, he spotted Katniss.  She was dressed in her usual hunting attire, her bag hanging from her hand, and she looked up at the Justice Building and stared, oblivious to Peeta’s presence.

She stood there for a couple minutes, motionless. Then he watched as she spun on her heel to leave, glancing back at the building one more time as she walked away. 

When she was fully out of sight, he stood from his seat and headed back inside.  When it was finally his turn at the window, he greeted the Capitol worker with a hopeful smile.  “I’d like to apply to the mines.”

-End


End file.
